Gathering Jinchuuriki
by Radioactive-man
Summary: AU Konoha thinks Naruto is dead for over six years. He on the other hand just couldn't find his way back. But then again, maybe it's for the better? Pairings not decided if there even will be any.
1. Prologue

Warning. In this chapter Itachi dies.You have been warned.

**Prologue**

Uzumaki Naruto was one of the many children residing in the village hidden in the leaves. He was also known as brat, demon, monster and many other words he didn't even bother to try and understand. So far his life sucked, that he was sure of. The regular beatings he received, the constant hate he couldn't explain and absolutely no one to support him.

Yes, his life definitely sucked.

The six year old was walking down the main street, glaring at the ground so as to not see the glares he knew he received. Little did he know that his life would change dramatically on this very evening.

* * *

Uchiha Itachi leisurely strolled down the street with a packed backpack. He was headed towards the village gates. The young man had to restrain himself from breaking out into a run. It would look suspicious. His cold eyes calmly stared ahead, taking in the villagers that passed him. And noone even suspected that this composed and handsome young man just slaughtered his whole clan, save for his little brother whom he didn't even deem worth killing. 

A slightly creepy smile adorned his face at that thought. Now was the time for him to leave. It wouldn't take long until his crime was discovered. He supposed that they wouldn't suspect him at first, seeing as so far he had been one of the most loyal and talented shinobi Konoha had ever produced, but Itachi also knew that the ANBU were not to be taken lightly. It wouldn't take long until they figured everything out.

He had to escape as long as he could. The Sharingan user was in no condition to fight right now. While commencing the massacre he had to use the advanced form of his bloodline very often and had barely any chakra left. The soldier pills could only do so much after all.

The young man turned a corner exiting into the well lit main street. His attention was drawn to a lonely figure walking down in his direction. The spiky blonde hair gave the boy away along with the marks on his face that looked like whiskers.

An idea popped into the crazed mind of the Uchiha. While the boy was ultimately of no use to him, Itachi still could use the demon sealed within the child. He didn't know how he was going to get that power but it thrilled him to think of it. To have the power of the mightiest demon to have ever walked on Earth was tempting to the point where the clouded mind of the man didn't register the consequences.

Itachi patiently waited until the boy reached him and with a swift motion of his hand the child was unconcious. The Uchiha caught the boy before he fell and slumped the unmoving body over his shoulder. He looked around to see if someone was going to alarm the shinobi but all he got were looks that quickly steered away from him as if the people didn't even see anything. Some of the villagers even went as far as to smile at him and give him appraising looks.

Itachi smirked and continued his slow trek towards the gates, not noticing that the additional weight slowed him down considerably.

* * *

Naruto woke up to hear the cracking of a camp fire. He sat up and looked around only to see that he was in a forest with no one by his side. His body ached and he was freezing. The boy rubbed his upper arms in discomfort. 

His head swivelled to the side as he heard someone cough behind him. What he saw surprised him a lot. What he expected were some villagers or shinobi that wanted to beat the crap out of him, but he only found a young man casually leaning against a tree. While this technically didn't rule out the beating, it made it rather less likely since people never attacked him on their own.

Still this was an unusual situation and Naruto was just a small child. It was only natural for him to be afraid which he didn't hesitate to do.

"W…what do you want?" He asked trying not to sound as scared as he actually was.

The strange man just cocked his head to the side and stared at him.

If Naruto was afraid before that, now he was afraid and positively creeped out. How could someone be that expressionless and yet instil such fear into him?

The man pushed off the tree and strolled over to Naruto, kneeling before him.

Before the blonde could react in any way the man spoke.

"Do you know why the villagers hate you?" He asked his cold voice sending even more shivers up Naruto's spine than the chill weather already did. He shook his head in the negative.

"Do you know what the Kyubi is?" The man continued his face never changing it's expression.

Naruto nodded. He knew about the demon but frankly he thought it was just some weird fairy tale that they were told when he was still in the orphanage.

"Good. The whole village hates you because Kyubi is sealed inside of you. They think you are the demon that took the lives of so many people." The man was blunt and kept it simple but it still took Naruto a while to understand what the man meant.

"W…What?"

"The demon lord Kyubi is sealed inside of you. That is why the village hates you. You are a Jinchuuriki."

"B…but why?" Naruto asked as tears started leaking from his eyes. He didn't even know why he was crying. Technically the man did nothing to provoke such a reaction. Maybe it was the emotionless tone the man used to drop such a bomb on the blonde's head.

"Because it couldn't be killed." The man's expression didn't change at all.

"So…what…do you want from me?"

"I want the power of the demon. In order to get it I will have to extract it from you. That is why I…" The man suddenly stopped and narrowed his eyes, looking to the side.

"So…you mean you will take it out of me? And people will stop hating me?" Naruto asked, hope rising in his voice.

He didn't expect the man to suddenly grab him by the neck and lift him off the ground.

"It seems that my pursuers are catching up already. It is a pity but I will have to dispose of you." The fear Naruto felt earlier suddenly felt like a warm summer breeze in comparison to the cold terror that engulfed the boy. It was true that he was no stranger to pain and beatings. But people never went further than breaking a limb. This man however…

* * *

Itachi pulled out a kunai and swiftly sliced it across the child's neck, making sure to cut deep enough. The boys bright blue eyes were filled with terror as Itachi gazed into them for one last second before dropping the boy to the ground where he lay trying to stop the blood with his hand while making gurgling noises. 

The Uchiha then grabbed his backpack and put out the flames of the campfire. It wouldn't do to lead his pursuers here with the light. He took a deep breath and jumped off the ground quickly gaining speed as he raced through the treetops. Little did he know that his pursuers were much faster than him.

* * *

The masked ANBU stood over the dead corpse of the former black ops captain. His hazed mind was obviously not working right, since he committed some of the stupidest mistakes that even genin knew to avoid. Kakashi, the son of the silver fang of Konoha and the student of Yondaime sighed tiredly. He gazed at the forest around them, remembering the body of the boy they had seen when they almost caught up with the clan murderer. 

Uzumaki Naruto…was dead. One of his team-mates approached the copy cat ninja.

"Captain…Shouldn't we fetch the other body too?"

Kakashi was silent for a while before responding.

"No… It is better if he rests here in the forest. I don't want to see the villagers dishonour the boy's grave which will happen if we bury him in Konoha. He is… better off staying here." His team-mates nodded, albeit some of them reluctantly.

They picked up the corpse of Uchiha Itachi and carried it in the direction of Konoha, bringing news of the successful mission as well as of the death of one Uzumaki Naruto.

* * *

Naruto woke up with a start. He looked around only to find the same camp site he was in earlier only this time he didn't see the strange man anywhere near here. A wave of relief flowed through him. Then, remembering exactly what happened his hands shot up to inspect his neck. He could feel dried blood there but there were no traces of the cut. He looked down at himself and once again saw that his clothes were drenched in blood though most of it had already dried. 

Naruto staggered up and looked around once again. His dazed mind noted that he had no idea how he got here and in which direction he should go to get back to the village.

AN

Hi everyone. Sadly I have to tell you that this story will be updated even more slowly than my other Naruto fic, because mainly it is merely something that has been running through my head since Christmas and is a side project I decided to take up to freshen things up in my mind. I have a fairly good idea of where this story is going but there are a lot of blank spots and the plot isn't worked out very well yet. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it and I would be glad to hear your thoughts on this chapter.


	2. Chapter 1

**AN: Hey everyone. If youre here, that means youve read the first chapter and watched Itachi die. And you didnt mind! Whohoo! **

**There is another warning about this story. There will be alot of OCs, even though none of them are going play any major role. Unless you want them to, of course. Since this story doesnt have a very well developed plot yet I am willing to hear your suggestions and wishes, though keep them reasonable please. With reasonable I mean, no yaoi or yuri, pairings with unholy amounts of age between the two parties or silly super power suggestions. Simply because I cant write that stuff.  
**

**Chapter 1 **

Naruto's eyes tracked the movement below him as he stayed within his hiding place in the tree. The villagers didn't suspect a thing as they walked by. It was to be expected, since this village was not a shinobi village but in fact just a small town housing barely over six hundred people on the outskirts of Wind country, where there was little sand left, replaced by simple rocky plains with patches of grass strewn around in a random patterns.

Even though it was only a small encampment now, Naruto knew for a fact that not too long ago, namely four years, it had been a striving town and a home for one of the most famous temples in the country. The remains of the aforementioned temple could be seen in the distance. The once ten stories high building was down to three stories, the top half looking as if it was blown away by an explosion if the burn marks on the outer walls were anything to go by.

Now, the travellers that happened to pass the village might wonder what on earth could have happened in a secluded place like this, since it held little to no strategic value, making it hard to believe that there was a shinobi battle at some point. But Naruto knew what had happened. As did the villagers.

Four years, two months and thirteen days ago the village was attacked. But not by shinobi or even a group of bandits. Instead it was a demon.

* * *

During his time away from Konoha Naruto learned a lot of things. First and foremost he learned that the greatest demon to ever walk the planet was sealed inside of him. He also learned that people like him were called Jinchuuriki. All of this information was thrown at him on the very first day he left his home village, albeit unwillingly. It had been three years now. One might wonder why Naruto hadn't returned as soon as he reached the first more or less civilized speck of earth. The answer to that was simple. 

When the blonde actually stumbled into a small village after two months of wandering the woods aimlessly and surviving from what scraps the nature offered him he was on the brink of death, exhausted physically and emotionally. When he was spotted by some guy who was working at the rice fields at the time, Naruto simply collapsed, not caring what those people would do to him.

When he woke up he was no longer in Fire country. As it turned out, in his aimless wandering Naruto had walked all the way to the border and the village he stumbled into had no way of giving him the medical attention that he so desperately needed at the time. The villagers feared the he wouldn't be able to survive the rather long trip to the next town within Fire country and opted to bring him over the border into the Rain county, where in a border town much like the one the young jinchuuriki stumbled into, a larger hospital could be found which provided the blonde with the necessary treatment.

Naruto had to stay in the hospital for roughly two weeks and most of the time he was unconscious. When he finally did wake up, he was questioned about his parents, home country and other mundane inquiries that had to be made in order to confirm one's identity. After the medics learned that Naruto was in fact an orphan from Konoha they proceeded to place him into an orphanage for a while. He didn't tell them that he was a jinchuuriki, since he figured it was the reason everyone hated him back home and didn't want it to happen here as well. He merely told them that he was kidnapped, then woke up in the forest alone and lost.

During his time in the orphanage and before that in the hospital Naruto had received nothing but kindness from everyone he met. The nurses would sneak in some toys and sweets for him and the caretaker at the orphanage was really nice, allowing him to play with the other kids. The blonde's short time of paradise was shattered however, when one day the caretaker told him that they would soon arrange for a team of Ame ninja to bring him back to Konoha. At this point in time Naruto knew only one thing. He didn't want to go back to his old life. The life where in the hospital the nurses gave him dirty looks instead of kind words and toys(not to mention the fact that he spent a considerable amount of his time in the aforementioned hospital, which was very unusual for someone who didn't suffer from sort of chronic disease). The life where he didn't even live in the orphanage any more but instead in a lonely and completely trashed apartment.

He knew that there were nice people in Konoha. That friendly old man with the funny hat and the other old man at the ramen stand that Naruto frequented whenever he could afford it. However in his six year old mind it was a simple choice. Have a whole village that hates your guts with only two decent people to help you pull through, or have a try at a new life somewhere else, where…if he got extremely lucky, he could even find a family someday. Naruto wasn't one to give up easily. He never was. But back then he knew only one village, namely Konoha and had all reason to think that even if he lived somewhere else the people's reaction to him would still be the same. Now though he saw an opportunity. He supposed that had he stayed in Konoha, he would have probably pulled through anyway, but here he saw an opportunity. A chance at a normal life, which he doubted he could ever have within the walls of the hidden Leaf. It was a chance he wasn't willing to pass up.

That very night Naruto packed all of his clothes that the orphanage had given him into a torn and shaggy backpack he found discarded in the streets one day. The thing was big but since thre weren't many possessions for Naruto to bring along it was still very light. After leaving the orphanage the small jinchuuriki made his way out of the village and was once again engulfed by woods.

This time however he was prepared. On his two months long survival trip through the woods of Fire country he learned a lot of things. Such as sleeping in the trees, since there were considerably less animals that wanted to eat him up there then on the ground.

He spent roughly two weeks travelling, and beginning to despair again since he thought he was lost again before the second meeting that was destined to change his life forever once more took place.

He was cold, shivering and it was almost completely dark already when he saw a small fire in the distance. Not thinking twice the small blonde made his way to the only source of light in the dark forest. When he approached he didn't see anyone. Just a camp-fire and a tent that was halfway built.

Naruto looked around.

"Hello?" He called in an attempt to coax anyone who was there out of wherever he or she was. He heard a twig snap behind him and turned to see who the newcomer was.

Staring at him was a bearded old man, with grey hair. The beard was kept short and the hair was lying flat on his ageing head. If Naruto had to guess, the man would be….well pretty old anyway. The man's expression was that of surprise as he gazed at Naruto. He seemed to catch himself and quickly walked back into the camp. The boy could see two wet flasks dangling on a rope from his hand. The man was obviously restocking his water supply.

"What the hell are you doing here kid? Where are your parents?" The man asked warily glancing around the area that the camp-fire was able to light.

"I don't have any parents. And I'm lost I think." Naruto said, looking down at his feet.

The man sighed with what appeared to be relief and took a seat near the camp-fire. After a long pause in which he seemed to contemplate, whether or not he would let the child stay, he sighed again and motioned for him to join him near the fire.

"You hungry?" He asked after taking out a small pot with and iron handle and hanging it above the fire on a thick wooden branch that he placed onto two fork like twigs at different sides of the camp-fire.

Naruto nodded. He didn't bring anything to eat and had to once again survive only from the fruits and berries that the woods had to offer. He didn't even bring anything to make fire with, which resulted in him being cold all of the time.

In the meantime the old man took two packs of instant ramen from his pack and put them on a stump of a tree, that he had improvised to be his table. Naruto stared dazedly at the treat, feeling his mouth watering. It had been more than three months without ramen for him. He couldn't believe he had survived this long without it.

The man noticed his look and chuckled.

"You like ramen, huh?"

Naruto could only nod, still not averting his eyes from the two cups. He then glanced at the water, which didn't seem to be in any hurry to bubble.

"What's your name kid?" The man asked.

"Uzumaki Naruto." The blonde replied as he tore his gaze away to look the man in the eye."And yours?"

"My name is Tatsuhiro Zenao, kid."

Naruto extended his hand. A look of bewilderment crossed Zenao's face before he grinned and shook the small appendage with his hand.

"Nice to meet you." The young blonde said politely, trying to keep his face set and serious to apear more mature.

Suddenly the man burst out laughing. Naruto didn't understand. What was so funny?

"Are you okay?" He asked, concerned. Maybe he wasn't laughing but crying?

Zenao looked up at him. There was a slight pause before he toppled over and was writhing on the ground in a fit of uncontrollable chuckles and mad laughs.

Naruto just pouted and sat down again huffing and making a show of turning his face away. After a while the strange man came back up, wiping away some tears.

"Oh, man…Haven't laughed like that since… Come to think of it, I never laughed like that." Zenao concluded. "Sorry kid, it's just you were trying so hard to make a serious face, that…" He burst out again but quickly caught himself. "Anyway. It just looked funny. Sorry 'bout that."

Naruto turned around and seeing the good humour in the man's eyes grinned and waved it off.

"Never mind. Laughing always feels good, so it's okay." He said. "Say, why are you out here anyway? I mean, I'm lost and… and stuff, but what about you?" He inquired from his strange companion. Zenao's face sobered at that and he turned his gaze to the fire.

He stared at it intently for s long time, so long in fact that the blonde thought that maybe he didn't hear him, but just as he was about to ask again, the old man spoke.

"I… I have to stay away from other people, kid."

"Why's that?" Naruto asked perplexed.

Zenao turned his gaze back to Naruto and his old eyes with wrinkles around them bored into him.

"It'll probably not tell you anything, but that's the only thing I'm gonna tell you, kid. I have to stay away from other people because otherwise they will kill me. A jinchuuriki will never know peace with normal people around." He turned his eyes back to the fire and remained that way for a while. He half expected the blond kid to ask questions, but when none came and he lifted his head to look at Naruto he saw that the boy had gone pale as a ghost and was shivering slightly.

"Kid, what's wrong?" There was just no way a small child would know the meaning behind the word Jinchuuriki. All it meant was 'human sacrifice' after all.

"Y…You t-too?" Was all Naruto could stutter out.

Zenao's eyes widened at that but then he just sighed and closed them for a while. Then he reopened them and said something that made Naruto forget about everything else in the world.

"I think it's about time we make our ramen."

* * *

Yeah. Good old Zenao. Naruto delved deeper into his memories, since it appeared as though no one was going to notice him anyway. 

The old man turned out to be a grumpy but otherwise fine fellow. After they ate their ramen he had suggested that Naruto should stay with him for a while, at least until he learned more about himself and the demon sealed inside of him.

When the blonde had told his older companion that the demon's name was Kyuubi, Zenao was completely shocked. He explained that he had never met another demon vessel in his entire life (which by the way turned out to be already sixty-eight years long) and that he would have never guessed that jinchuuriki of the great Biju even existed. He proceeded to tell Naruto that from what he heard, the Biju were the most powerful demons around and that the Kyuubi was the most powerful of them all. He would have never guessed that beings of such power could ever be sealed away. When Naruto asked if there were more demons, the man answered as well as he could.

Apparently those 'demons' were nothing more than extremely powerful and evil chakra that had gained a mind of it's own. It was rumoured that they were the result of madmen trying to gain immortality, however the means by which they achieved their goal (in a twisted and corrupted kind of way) were unknown, mostly because even the youngest demons were several thousands years old.

Naruto also leaned about the different kinds of demons. The most powerful were the tailed ones, the extent of their might varying, depending on the number of their tails. The next stage were the winged demons. Even the strongest one of them was nothing compared to Shukaku the Ichibi. The following lower level were the horned demons, the lowest kind of demons known to mankind. They were pathetically weak compared to their tailed and winged brethren, but still shared one single trait that eventually made them superior to humans. Immortality. Even though shinobi of Kage level would have probably been able to fight them evenly, they still would have prevailed simply because they could not die.

As Naruto also learned, the only way to stop the demons was to seal them away into human beings, which led to the birth of the many different jinchuuriki. When a demon vessel died, the chakra of the demon died with him, leaving only the consciousness behind, not even able to communicate with anyone, leaving them even less harmless than a dead entity. At least that was the theory. It was widely unconfirmed simply because there was no way to find out.

Naruto also found out that apart from a five horned demon sealed within him, Zenao was also a hopeless pessimist. Apparently he left his home village twenty years ago and only ventured into other towns when he needed travelling supplies. He had lost hope in humankind in general and wasn't willing to give it a chance.

They travelled together for another two months, Naruto learning everything he could about the life of a jinchuuriki and trying to ignore the pessimistic comments which followed every single statement of the old man. From time to time they would enter a village or a town and buy food, but eventually they ran out of money and were forced to enter a town, for a little longer period of time than usual.

"We will have to stay here for two weeks at the very least," Zenao was saying as they neared themselves to the gates, which were built into a two meters high wall made of wood. "I usually need only five or six days, but with you around we will have to pay more for the room we are going to stay at and we also need more supplies, which means more work to do if we want to get the necessary money. Besides with the amount of ramen you eat, we'll probably need to buy more of it as well." Naruto had the decency to blush and look at his feet.

"Do you remember what I told you?" Zenao asked for what seemed like the hundredth time that day.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't tell anyone about our secret." Naruto drawled out.

"Good."

Still, despite being a grouchy old fart, Zenao had said, that he would be the only one doing the work and that Naruto would have all the free time he wanted as long as he helped with the small errands. And thus their short time in the town had begun. Zenao would leave early for work at a construction site that needed to be sped along (the old man admitted that he was lucky to find the job so fast) and Naruto would hang around town, occasionally playing with other kids his age.

On the third day of their second week there, Naruto was once again fated to meet one of his kind.

He was playing on the ground with a toy he had brought from rain country, when suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his back and a lot of additional weight on top of him. It lifted soon enough and he was faced with the sight of a dirty and unkept girl. Her unruly brown hair hung limply behind her head in an unkept ponytail, stray locks jutting out in every direction. She was about twice as tall as the blonde and probably twice as old as well.

"Watch where you're playing, brat!" She sneered at him. Whatever intimidation effect she had was lost as a voice behind her hollered.

"Get back here you filthy little…" Naruto didn't quite understand the last word, because the girl squeaked loudly and made an attempt to get away. She was suddenly stopped as one of the passer byes hurled a stone at her, which connected solidly with her head. Her body went limp and she crumpled to the ground in a boneless heap.

A panting man came into view and ran up to them. He was about to say something but seeing Naruto he quickly shut his mouth. After a second or two of catching his breath he finally spoke.

"Did that… thing do anything to you, boy?" He asked in what appeared to be a worried tone.

The blonde jinchuuriki's gaze was fixed on the small pool of blood that was collecting under the girls head.

"Boy, are you alright?" The man repeated, coming closer and shaking Naruto slightly. The blonde slowly turned his head and stared at the man as well as the passer-by who had thrown the stone. Slowly he nodded.

"Thank God." The man talking to him breathed out. His face then turned serious and he took both of Naruto's shoulders in his hands, fixing him with a stern stare.

"Listen boy. You have to stay away from that thing." He nodded in the direction of the unconscious girl. "It's not a girl, you hear me? It's a demon. Stay away from her, no matter what." Still very much in shock, the boy could only nod again.

"Good." The man concluded. He released Naruto and made his way to the girl. Kneeling down he ripped something that she was clutching in her hands out of her grasp, stood up and kicked her in the ribs. She woke up at that and started coughing, trying to get some air into her lungs. The man just spit at her crumpled form and walked away.

To Naruto, the whole situation seemed wrong somehow. Like it should have been him down there on the ground and in pain. It was entirely unfamiliar for him to be on the other end of the line. Meanwhile the girl managed to get up, and delivering one final glare at the gaping blonde limped away, small droplets of blood falling from her chin from time to time.

Naruto spent the rest of the day in a daze. After the incident had occurred he left the scene and walked back into the room Zenao and him shared. He laid down on his bed and just laid there, his mind unpleasantly blank, until the older jinchuuriki came back.

Of course the old man immediately noticed that there was something wrong with his young companion, seeing as the usual bundle of energy was now just lying there and staring at the ceiling. When he asked him what was wrong and Naruto told him the whole story the man had gone pale and just nodded.

The next day Naruto didn't leave the room. When Zenao came back his face was grim. He confirmed to the young blonde that there was indeed a jinchuuriki in this village. Apparently he had coaxed it out of the other construction workers, in a casual way of course.

"So, what do we do now? We have to help her!" Naruto exclaimed, as they sat at the table eating dinner.

"And what do you suggest? Killing everyone in the village or what?" Zenao asked scowling.

"You demented old bat! I'm talking about taking her with us!" Naruto raged, as he shovelled more ramen into his mouth.

"And how do you imagine that to work? We just come up and say, 'Hey! We're also jinchuuriki, so come with us!'? Do you have any idea what the villagers will do to us?" Zenao growled. After a pause he added. "And don't call me demented! Ungrateful little brat…"

"I'll call you whatever I want! And you said it yourself, a jinchuuriki can never live with normal people, didn't you?! Besides, we just have to catch her alone and explain it all to her!" Naruto argued.

"Brat, you don't understand! After living like she did, she won't believe a word we say! She'll think we came to off her or something!"

"Well. We'll just have to convince her then!" Naruto didn't step down.

"And how? It's not like we have 'jinchuuriki' written on our foreheads!" As usual Zenao continued to press his pessimistic point.

"Fine! If you don't want to, I'll do it myself!" Naruto screamed and ran out of the room.

Soon he was outside and with no idea where to begin his search. He wandered the streets for a while, letting himself cool off and at the same time pondering, how he would explain the situation. It was dark already and the streets were slowly but surely emptying. The village wasn't very big and Naruto wondered if perhaps he could just ask someone, but thought better of it. He spent a good hour wandering aimlessly until he heard some sound from the end of the street. He walked on, thinking that it probably was some stray animal. When he reached the small alley the sounds were coming from he turned his head to look at the source of the noise. He was met with a familiar dirty and ruffled ponytail of the girl from the day before, who seemed to be halfway into a garbage can.

Naruto cleared his throat.

"Hey." He said, as the back of the girl stiffened.

She slowly turned around and regarded him with a raised eyebrow.

"What do you want?" She asked, being careful to keep her voice down.

Seeing as Naruto still hadn't come up with any ideas on how to approach the subject, he decided to try and explain everything directly.

"I want you to come with the old goat Zenao and me. Away from here." He stated simply. Before he could continue, she interrupted him.

"Did that Zenao send you?"

"What? No, he's too stubborn and kept saying you wouldn't believe us." The small blonde said. The girl leaned back on the garbage can and did her best to look down on him, putting emphasis on her physical superiority.

"Uh huh. And why should I come with you in the first place?"

"'Cause…'Cause you're a jinchuuriki."

"A what?"

"You know, a demon vessel."

The girl stared disbelievingly at him.

"A vessel? Didn't you listen to what the others say? I _am_ the demon." She said bitterly.

"No, you aren't. Old man Zenao explained all that stuff to me. We're just, you know…what's the word...con...containers! Yeah! So, we're like a bottle with water but we're not the water itself, right?" Naruto was proud. He remembered that word and to top it off he brought a great example. There was no way the girl wouldn't believe him now.

"What…Did you just say?" She stuttered, a very insecure and confused look crossing her face.

"I said that the bottle," Naruto began, happy to be able to sound smart again.

"No. You said 'we'. What do you mean 'we'?" The girl's eyes narrowed and she took a menacing step forward.

"I…I meant…I meant, like _us_, you know? Us demon vessels." Naruto backed away a bit, suddenly realizing that he was in a dark alley, alone with a much stronger girl, who was obviously angry at him for some reason.

She took another step forward.

"What is this? A dare with your little friends, huh? You think it's funny?!" She moved again.

"What? No! I'm honest!" Naruto backed away until his back was against the wall on the opposite side of the street.

"Oh yeah? Then lead me to that Zenao of yours. And if you were lying or if this is a trap, I'm gonna kill you first and then whoever you were planning this with! Got it?!" She walked forward until she was right in front of the blonde and grabbed a fistful of his shirt pulling him up to her nose.

"Okay! Okay! Just let me go!" Naruto cried. The girl scowled and put him down.

"Lead the way." She commanded.

Grudgingly Naruto walked ahead, the female jinchuuriki following two steps behind him.

Neither of them noticed as a face poked out from the alley right after they left and was quickly followed by a body, which hurried away into the darkness.

When they reached the inn, Naruto was glad to see that the clerk had already retired for the night and there was no one in the hall. He led her through the building until they were in front of the room Zenao and the blonde shared.

Naruto knocked on the door and soon was rewarded with the sound of bare feet against the floor. He glanced back and noticed that the girl was now extremely nervous and looking around as if looking for an escape route. However it was too late.

The door snapped open, revealing Zenao in all his naked glory. Well, except for the towel that was hanging around his waist.

There was a second where nothing happened, then the old man grabbed Naruto and the girl and dragged them inside with surprising strength. After they were inside, he quickly locked the door and faced the two children.

The girl looked positively freaked out by now.

"Is that her?" Zenao asked in a stern voice.

"Yeah, and you said she wouldn't be…" Naruto began.

"Did anyone follow you or seen you two together?" He asked again.

"Er, no, I don't think so…" Naruto started again.

"You don't think sou, or are you sure? One hundred percent sure?" Zenao didn't let up.

"Well, I didn't look back…"

"Shit!" Zenao cursed and raced to the small chest near his bed. "Quick! Pack your stuff, we're leaving!" He ordered and began to stuff all of his possessions in his backpack, which he previously took out from under the bed.

"What? Why?"

"Because if someone saw you, they are gonna come here and want to know what business we have with their jinchuuriki!" He pulled a pair of pants from the chest and put them on, revealing that underneath his towel there was a pair of boxer shorts to the other two occupants' of the room relief. "And we really don't want that!" He continued packing, randomly taking out stuff from the chest and putting on the articles of clothing he missed on his body. Seeing as the two were still frozen in place he turned around and glared at them.

"Hurry up! You too girl! Help the runt with his stuff! If they haven't killed you yet, they sure as hell are going to, as soon as they learn that there are two others like you in their town. Now move it!" He screamed.

The still nameless girl broke out of her stupor and dragged Naruto over to the other bed and the other chest.

"Get your bag." She ordered. While Naruto was busy dragging his backpack from under the bed, she proceeded to unload all of his possessions onto the bed and as soon as the blonde resurfaced, covered in dust and dirt, she took the bag from him and started frantically stuffing his clothes and toys into it.

Zenao was meanwhile done and was packing all the food he had bought just a day ago, already suspecting that Naruto wouldn't be able to keep his mouth shut and they would have to flee. Five minutes later they were ready to go.

The grey haired man peeked out of the door. There was no one there. He motioned for the two children to follow him and led the way out. As soon as they were on the street he rushed them to the nearest village exit. It was ten minutes later, when they were already outside and panting from the late night exercise, that there was an explosion from the direction of the village.

Zenao sighed in relief.

He took a look at his two companions and chuckled.

"Kid, what are you going to do? Rally all the jinchuuriki in the world together or something?" He asked jokingly. To think that in just two months he had already met two of his kind, considering that he had travelled for almost fifty years and didn't meet even a single one until Naruto came along.

The boy in question was staring fixedly at the fire going off in the distance.

"You know, old goat? That's actually not such a bad idea." The girl and Zenao stared at him in bewilderment. He turned to face them.

"I'm not gonna look on as people like us suffer." He proclaimed. "If there's no place for us to live, then I'll make one!" He said, his voice full of conviction.

* * *

That's how it was. That's how his new dream, his goal in life had come to be. And if Uzumaki Naruto said something, he was going to go through with it. It was tough at first. After the first year of active search, since the girl, whose name turned out to be Akoyasu Atako readily agreed with his plan, and after much bugging and whining Zenao was also persuaded, they managed to find seven other jinchuuriki. But The more they found and convinced to help them, the easier it became. 

And now, three years after he left Konoha, and two and a half years after the beginning of his new dream, there were almost seventy jinchuuriki in their group. They even made a base of operations and had an organized order of command, Zenao as the oldest and most experienced jinchuuriki residing on top. Their base of operations was just a small village they had built not four months ago in the snow desert near Snow country. It was perfect. Even though the cold temperatures were hard, there were no other humans anywhere near it. To supply such a base was hard, but they managed,if only because most jinchuuriki were shinobi or kunoichi, who were capable of building competent teams and take on some high paying missions from different wealthy, even if a bit shady people. In fact the shinobi part of the newly founded jinchuuriki village insisted on teaching the younger generation their art, insisting that it was vital for their survival.

Which was why Naruto was now able to hide from the villagers below him with such ease. Soon the night came and the blonde made his move.

Sneakily sliding out of the tree he raced to the outskirts of the village where an abandoned hut was located. Spying no one in the immediate area he stealthily opened the door and slid inside. It was dark and silent in there. Naruto pulled a phosphor stick from a pouch that was attached to his belt and snapped it once. Shaking it for a while, he illuminated the small abode and was able to see two eyes peeking out from under a dirty rag, that obviously served as a blanket, at the far end of the room. He moved closer and the form beneath the blanket shifted, scooting away from the light and to the wall. The blonde crouched in front of it and grinned.

"Hey there."

There was no response and the pair of eyes still stared at his face, primal fear evident in them.

"Come on. I'm getting you out of here." He said, and without further ado pulled his backpack down. Rummaging through it for a while he pulled out a small jacket and carefully took away the rag that covered the still form. A girl's face peeked at him, her gaze never breaking as he picked her up with no resistance from her side. He pulled the jacket over her and closed his backpack. He then picked the girl up and placed her on his back. In this fashion they exited the small hut.

The girl still didn't say a word, but some of the fear had vanished from the bright green orbs that were her eyes.

"Hold on tight." Naruto advised and started running in the direction of the border. He had to make it to the sea until tomorrow, then there would be a ship, that was going to take them to Snow country. From there it would be a week's travel until they reached their goal.

* * *

During all the time travelling the girl hadn't spoken once, despite Naruto's best efforts. Only after they entered the cave that was the entrance to their new home did she speak. 

"Where are we?" She asked. Naruto noted how dry and raspy her voice was. It was extremely strange to hear it from a four year old girl.

"We're home!" He announced and proceeded on his way inside, where Atako relieved him of the girl and pushed her into the best house the village currently had to offer, where the other five kids of about her age were eagerly waiting for a new playmate.

**AN: Like it? Hate it? Let me know! I personally have the feeling that I rushed things a little. Oh well. Anyway, Review!**


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